Of Wraith And Men
by RobotRollCall
Summary: The Doctor and Martha land in the Pegasus galaxy and run into some trouble with the Wraith. Colonel Sheppard and his team, already in the Pegasus galaxy, do the same. At least they're all in it together.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N:_ _This story takes place in Series 3, sometime after "42" for the Doctor and Martha, and during Season 4 of Stargate Atlantis. All rights property of the BBC and/or MGM._

* * *

 _In which they all get caught._

The Doctor woke up lying face down on the floor. Something hard was pressing into his rib cage, and after a moment, he realized it was his hand, balled into a fist and completely numb. It took considerably more effort than he would have liked, but he managed to pull it out. With a little more coaxing, his fingers began to flex, feeling slowly returning. The rest of him remained motionless on the floor, his brain clearing out the fog of unconsciousness and taking stock of the situation.

He was alive. Always a good place to start. And, yes, as an added bonus, all in one piece. Even better. True, his body ached so badly that he could barely move, and his head felt as if someone had driven a nail through it, but he was pretty sure he'd had worse. And, as quickly as consciousness was returning, the pain was fading. With a groan, he opened his eyes and hauled himself to a sitting position. Much better. He rubbed a hand across his eyes and looked around. He was in a small, bare room. The dim lighting had a purplish tint to it, and seemed to come from no specific place. The floor was hard, cold, and a little dirty. The walls seemed to be made of some sort of organic material-looking almost, yet not quite enough, like flesh. Then he saw the door and sighed. It wasn't the first time he'd woken up in a prison cell, battered, sore, and with no idea why he was there. That didn't worry him. Neither did his inability to remember a thing after being grabbed by that energy beam, nor did the fact that he had no clue where it had even come from. He could figure all that out later. No, what worried him was the fact that he had woken up in this cold, dark, little prison cell on his own, and there was no sign of Martha Jones.

He jumped to his feet and walked to the door, pushing his head as far as he could manage through the oddly twisted bars. Outside was a corridor, made of the same material as his cell, but a little better lit. Doors like the one he was poking his head through were set in the walls at periodic intervals, presumably leading to more cells. He couldn't manage to see into any of them. "Martha?" he called hopefully. No response. "Martha?" Louder this time, but still nothing. He pulled back in, propping his arms on the bars with a sigh. Suddenly, he frantically began feeling the pockets of his coat, then let out a disappointed hiss. No sonic screwdriver. His plans of escape and searching for Martha suddenly seemed a lot less feasible. And, though he wouldn't have admitted it to Martha if she had been there, his head still hurt. Today just wasn't going well at all.

* * *

ONE HOUR AGO

Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard shifted the weight of the P-90 hanging from his shoulder, exhaling contentedly. For once, they had a mission go off without a hitch. They'd made peaceful contact with the locals, laid the groundwork for future negotiations-with a good chance of getting some Ancient technology thrown in, by the way, and they'd pulled it all off without anyone getting shot. Now he was taking a nice, leisurely walk back to the Stargate in good weather and good company-today seemed to be going pretty well. Well, almost. He turned towards the loud grumbling behind him and shouted, "Pick up the pace, McKay!"

"Yeah! I'd like to get back before all the food's gone," added Ronon with a grin.

"Oh, yeah, nice. Yell at the man loaded down with valuable, and might I add, heavy, bags of equipment," McKay snapped irritably.

"It's your own fault for bringing it all, and you know it," Sheppard shot back good-naturedly.

"I still don't see why we couldn't have parked closer to the village," Rodney panted.

"Same reason I told you on the way there. Too many trees. And that EM shield you pointed out."

"Okay. Trees, sure. But the EM field doesn't stretch nearly this far. We didn't have to park right by the Gate. I mean, look at all this room." He gestured at the meadow they were walking through.

"Just step it up, would ya Rodney? We're almost there."

"I'm going as fast as I can."

"I have seen you go faster than that," Teyla pointed out.

"Yes. When I'm running for my life," Rodney shot back.

"I could chase you back to the Gate," Ronon offered, waving his gun helpfully.

"Oh, yes, offer to shoot me. That'll make me feel better."

Teyla grinned, but said nothing, wisely keeping out of the building argument. John just shook his head and kept walking. He could count on Teyla to keep things diplomatic. He tuned them out, knowing that when Rodney's voice reached that squeak of outrage, she would step in and calm them both down. He wasn't going to let Rodney's griping spoil the first perfect day he'd had in weeks. Although… Now that they were out from that EM shield the locals had, he really should have heard from Lorne by now. Lorne never missed a check in. He clicked his radio. "Lorne, this is Sheppard, come in." Static. "Lorne!"

The silence stretched on, and just as he was about to try again, Lorne's voice crackled over the radio, "Sorry, sir. We ran into some trouble back there, too busy running to talk."

"Running? What's your situation?" All of Sheppard's earlier good mood vanished. He was vaguely aware of the argument stopping abruptly behind him as the rest of the team heard the message.

"We've got Wraith, sir. Three Darts, came through the Gate about twenty minutes ago. When we couldn't get you on the radio, we took cover."

"Good thinking, Major. Where are they now?"

"Not sure, sir. They flew off towards the village, but we've heard them pass by a few times since then. I think they're circling the area. The first Dart left after they snatched up one or two of the locals, although we managed to save one of them. Two Darts still unaccounted for."

"Copy that. We're on our way to you. Get to the jumper, and the first chance you get to go through that Gate, you take it, even if we're not back. Copy?"

"Sir…"

"That's an order, Major."

"Yes sir. Good luck. Lorne out."

Sheppard turned back to his team. "Alright, you heard the man, people. Let's move! Rodney, if you don't absolutely need it, drop it!"

"Already dropped!" Rodney had abandoned his load and was off, Ronon and Teyla on his heels.

The Stargate came into view over the crest of a slope, the event horizon swirling blue. Evidently the Wraith still had the Gate open-Lorne was crouched at the door of the still-cloaked jumper, gun out and ready for cover, waving them forward. For a brief instant, Sheppard allowed himself to hope they might make it. Then he heard the swooping buzz of the darts. He glanced behind him and saw the pale blue culling beam blazing its way relentlessly towards them. Ronon tried to shove Rodney out of the way as the first Dart swooped by, but it was too quick, scooping up both of them.

"Colonel, look out!" yelled Lorne, and Sheppard leapt to the right, narrowly avoiding the beam of the first ship as it whizzed past them and on through the Gate. He cursed and put on a burst of speed, aware of Teyla still behind him, but both of them unable to outrun the second Dart. The last thing he saw wasn't Lorne, yelling from the jumper door, but something farther back in the woods, bright blue and wooden, and his last thought was how out of place it looked there. Then everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

_In which they sort of escape, and Martha gets a ride._

* * *

After about half an hour of sitting in his cell in silence, the Doctor was starting to get bored. He had already given his cell a thorough going-over-twice-and had only managed to determine that there was in fact no way of opening the door from the inside. The only opening device he could see was embedded in the wall across the hall from his cell. He still had no clue as to what strange material the walls might be, although he had decided that he was on some sort of ship. The almost imperceptible vibrations in the floors gave it away. Must have been a smooth ride though, because even he could barely feel it. For all he knew, he was the only person on the ship, seeing as no one had ventured down his corridor since he'd been awake. He'd seen no further sign of Martha, and was growing increasingly concerned about her whereabouts. Especially since this ship seemed to be going somewhere. On the plus side, his head had stopped hurting some time ago, and a few blurry memories had made their way back.

He'd been on the planet with Martha. That much was certain. The TARDIS hadn't told him exactly where, but he knew it was the Pegasus galaxy. Not that that narrowed it down much. Awful lot of planets in a galaxy. Anyway, they'd been walking in some sort of meadow. Just wandering. Martha had been hungry, and he'd been telling her about tava beans-a Pegasus galaxy staple that were quite tasty when cooked properly. He remembered hearing a quick, buzzing sound, like a ship flying low in the atmosphere. That was where things started to get hazy. He had flashes of a sleek, purple ship, a pale blue energy beam, and someone yelling. Martha had fallen-no, something had hit her, and knocked her over, hopefully out of the way of the beam. He'd been caught in it, and remembered full well that split second where he could feel his molecules separating before blacking out. He thought he remembered waking up briefly and being hit with something again, but at this point he wasn't willing to put any money on it.

Either way, it still didn't help him much. There were all numbers of people in this galaxy, many of whom had the technology to build an energy beam like that, and none with a motivation he could think of to go around kidnapping people. If only someone, _anyone_ , would show up in this corridor, perhaps he could get a few decent answers and figure things out. Come to that, they didn't even have to be decent answers. Just some sort of conversation. He could work with that.

The Doctor's eyes lit up as he heard the unmistakable sound of tromping boots clanging down the hallway. He leapt to his feet, bouncing towards the door. A group of heavily armed, masked soldiers came into view, dragging four unconscious forms along the floor behind them. The Doctor was about to open his mouth, then thought better of it as his door swung open and the lead warrior gestured menacingly at him with his gun.

"Right. Yes. Of course." The Doctor put his hands in the air, and backed further into his cell, smiling in as friendly a manner as possible. He caught a brief glimpse of the soldiers in the rear dragging two of their captives into a cell a few doors down, but his view was quickly cut off by more soldiers bringing the remaining two prisoners into his cell. They dumped them unceremoniously on the floor, then turned and left without a word. The bars snapped shut behind them, and the Doctor ran up, pressing his face through them again. "Excuse me!" he shouted, as they retreated down the corridor. "If you could just-Oh, never mind," he trailed off as they disappeared. He pulled back in and turned to his new cell mates. A quick examination told him that the man and the woman were both unharmed, probably brought up by the same sort of energy beam he was. They were both human, so their headaches would undoubtedly be a fair bit worse than his was, but to no lasting effect. They both appeared to be quite fit, and both about the same age-say, mid-to-late thirties-so they should both be waking up in the next fifteen minutes or so. The Doctor smiled, and sat down happily to wait for his new companions to regain consciousness.

John Sheppard lay on his back, brought suddenly back to life by the dull throbbing in his head. You would think after all the times he'd been sucked up by Darts and hit by Wraith stunners he would get used to this, but no. Never got any easier. He sighed, fought back the urge to go back to sleep, and after a few seconds, convinced his eyelids to open. Staring back at him was a large pair of deep brown eyes and an overwhelmingly bright grin.

"Hello!"

"Ghaa!" Sheppard sat up and backed away quickly.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you," said the man who had evidently been crouched down beside him.

"No, that's, that's fine," Sheppard assured him. "What's…ah, I mean, who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor," he answered, extending a hand.

"Doctor…?"

"That's it. Just 'Doctor'."

"Uh-huh. Okay." He reached out and shook the still-waiting hand.

"And you are?"

"Sheppard. John Sheppard."

"Nice to meet you, John Sheppard." The Doctor paused. "Sheppard…Why does that sound familiar? Have we met before?"

"Not that I know of."

"Hmm. Are you sure?"

Sheppard blinked and studied the Doctor properly for the first time. He looked human enough alright, he even sounded British. He was tall, thin as a rail, and had hair that was as roguishly unkempt as his own. He wore a brown trench coat, what appeared to be a pin-striped suit, and were those Converse sneakers? Even on Earth, this guy would have stood out. Granted, perhaps not nearly as much as he did in the Pegasus galaxy, but still…."Pretty darn. You seem like the kind of person that people don't forget."

"Well, I suppose that's true," the Doctor said thoughtfully. He sniffed. "Oh well, must have been someone else. How're you feeling?"

"What? Oh, um, fine, I guess."

"Bit of a headache?"

"Yeah. Wh-"

"Don't worry, it'll pass," the Doctor interrupted. "Now, if you don't mind telling me, where are we?"

"What, you mean other than in a cell on a Wraith ship?"

"Wraith…" the Doctor dragged the word out pensively. "Ah. That's not good, is it?"

"Usually isn't, no."

"You know, I've never met a Wraith before. Never really fancied it to tell you the truth, but I had always wondered…Anyway, so they're Wraith and they're here, and you're human and you're here, and if I'm right that would be a North American accent? Perhaps, oh…somewhere in the North-ish Mid-West?" He pointed at Sheppard as he asked, but before he could reply, the Doctor went on, "Add that to the American Air Force markings on your shoulder and that would make this the early twenty-first century, yes?"

"Yeah," Sheppard said, confused. "But then, if you're from Earth, you should know that."

"Why would you think I'm from Earth?"

"Well, dressed like that, I doubt you're from the Pegasus galaxy."

"Oh. Fair point, I suppose. Nice guess, but no, I'm not from Earth. Don't worry, you're hardly the first one to make that mistake."

"So who are you?" Sheppard demanded. "How do you know about Earth and the American military and freakin' Converse sneakers for Pete's sake?! And how are you in the Pegasus galaxy and don't know about the Wraith?"

"If it helps, I do know who the Wraith are. I just didn't recognize them, because I've never been here before when they were here. That and the face masks."

"No. That doesn't help."

"Right. Well, it's sort of a long story."

John threw his arm out to gesture at the cell. "It's not like we're going anywhere."

"Fair enough. I'm a Time Lord-"

He was cut off from explaining any further by a moan from Teyla, who sat up holding her hands to her head.

"You alright?" Sheppard asked.

"I am unharmed," she assured him. Then she caught sight of the Doctor. "Who is this?"

The Doctor stuck out his hand. "Pleasure to meet you…" he trailed off in a question.

"Teyla. Teyla Emmagen." She automatically shook the offered hand.

The Doctor grinned and helped her to her feet. "You're a Pegasus local, aren't you? And here you are, working with a man from Earth. Good for you! Oh, I love it when humans work together!"

"Thank you?" Teyla said slowly. She turned to Sheppard. "What is going on, John?"

"He's…explaining. I think." He turned back to the Doctor. "Go ahead, Doc." In answer to Teyla's questioning eyebrow he added, "Said his name's The Doctor."

"Yes, it is," the Doctor said patiently. "Please don't call me 'Doc'."

"Sorry. Doctor. Please go on."

"Right. Well, I'm a Time Lord, as I said, from a planet called Gallifrey-you wouldn't have heard of it. I have a ship called the TARDIS-it stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. And I use it to travel around in space and time…"

"So, you are from the future?" Teyla asked as the Doctor wrapped up his explanation.

"Well, yes and no. Future, past, present...whenever. I've been to all of them."

Sheppard shook his head. "You know, I think I followed most of that, but I would love to see you try to explain it to McKay when we find him."

"Yes, speaking of which, where are Rodney and Ronon?" Teyla wondered.

"I don't know. They were gone when I woke up."

"Sorry," the Doctor put in. "But Rodney wouldn't by chance be a largish sort of man with lots of hair, would he?"

"No, but that sounds an awful lot like Ronon," Sheppard said. "Have you seen him?"

"Yes. The Wraith brought in your friend Ronon and a smaller man-Rodney?-and put them somewhere a few doors down."

"Well, that's good. Which way?"

"That way." The Doctor stuck his head out through the bars again and looked out to the left. Sheppard shrugged and stuck his own head out, following the Doctor's gaze. "Just there. Two…three doors over, I think it is."

"Ronon? Rodney! You guys down there?" Sheppard yelled, ignoring the sudden gleam in the Doctor's eye.

"Sheppard! Is that you?" a gruff voice called back.

"That sounds like Ronon," Teyla said, joining them at the door.

"Yeah, we're here. You guys alright?" Sheppard called back.

"No, we're not alright! We're on a Hive ship, what kind of stupid question is that?" a second voice snapped.

"And, that would be Rodney."

"So what's the plan?" Ronon asked.

"Got nothin' yet," Sheppard replied.

"That one would be Ronon, yes?" the Doctor asked Teyla, who nodded. "Actually, Ronon, I've got a thought," he called down.

Ronon stuck his head out through the bars and looked their way. "Who's that?"

"I'm the Doctor. Hello!" He smiled cheerfully. "Yes, I've got a plan, if you could just lend me a hand?"

"Me?"

"Yes, my…rather large friend. You see that little silver thing just there?" He gestured helpfully towards his sonic screwdriver laying on the floor. "If you could just reach that, and slide it down this way…"

"This thing?" Ronon stretched out and grabbed it easily. He raised a questioning eyebrow at Sheppard.

"He's okay," Sheppard assured him. "Go ahead and throw him the thing."

"Gently!" added the Doctor, as Ronon shrugged and hurled the screwdriver down the hall. It clattered to a stop just past their door, barely within arm's reach. The Doctor pulled it in and quickly examined it. "Must've fallen out of my pocket. That's the trouble with keeping so many things in them."

"What is that?" asked Teyla.

"Sonic screwdriver," he answered simply.

"What, you're gonna bust us out of here with a screwdriver?" Sheppard asked skeptically.

"Indeed I am, Colonel," He clicked the screwdriver a few times until he found a setting he liked. "Ah! Eight-seventy-three should do it." He stuck his arm out through the bars, pointing steadily at the locking mechanism across the hall. The tip glowed blue, accompanied by a gratifying hum, and after a second, the bars quietly snapped open. He thumbed off the screwdriver and returned it to his pocket with a satisfied flourish.

"Nice," Sheppard nodded approvingly. "Thanks."

"You are indeed a most fortunate cell mate, Doctor. Thank you," Teyla said.

"Don't mention it." The Doctor swung the doors open and strode out into the hall. He nodded to the left. "Come on."

A few quick steps and a flick of the sonic screwdriver later, and the doors were snapping open on the other cell. "Thanks," Ronon said.

"Yes, thank you," added Rodney. "What is that? And who are you?"

"Later, Rodney," Sheppard said. "Doctor, this is the rest of my team: Ronon Dex, and Dr. Rodney McKay. Guys, this is the Doctor."

A brief round of greeting was exchanged, an activity that seemed bizarrely out of place, considering the location. "So, what's the plan?" asked Ronon.

"I'm thinking maybe we get off the ship before we get eaten," Sheppard said plainly.

"Works for me."

"It's simple. I like it," the Doctor grinned.

* * *

TWO HOURS AGO

Martha Jones was on the ground, face down in the dirt. Something-no, make that someone-had just slammed into her and knocked her over. That someone was now leaping up from on top of her and dragging her to her feet. "What-?"

"Run!" the man yelled at her, and it was all she could do to keep up as he hauled her forwards. She stumbled alongside him, glancing frantically around for the Doctor. He'd been right next to her, and then he'd just vanished. She didn't see him anywhere in the clearing. The man pulling her suddenly stopped, then ushered her swiftly forward through a door she could have sworn wasn't there a second ago. She found herself inside a small ship and the man with her relaxed slightly, guiding her to a seat and then returning to the door. Peering around him, she saw a large metal ring set into the ground, with what looked like a puddle of water shimmering inside it. Her view was blocked briefly by another man and a woman, in uniforms identical to the first man's, rushing in and taking up defensive positions by the door with their comrade. Beyond them, she saw two small purple ships buzzing away from the clearing. The man at the door -it would seem his name was Lorne-finally answered the radio that had been squawking at his shoulder. "Sorry, sir. We ran into some trouble back there, too busy running to talk."

"Running? What's your situation?" a voice buzzed back through the static.

"We've got Wraith, sir. Three Darts, came through the Gate about twenty minutes ago. When we couldn't get you on the radio, we took cover."

Martha tuned out the rest of the conversation as she continued to scan the field for the Doctor. Nothing. And what were Wraith? Judging from the conversation going on over the radio, they didn't sound pleasant. Suddenly, she saw movement as four people rushed into the clearing. The Doctor was not among them. She stared in horror as the purple ships came zooming back, and with some sort of energy ray beamed them all up. Was that what had happened to the Doctor? Lorne yelled in frustration as the two ships disappeared through the ring and the shimmering puddle blinked out of existence.

Lorne slammed his fist against the wall in frustration. He sighed, then turned to his companions. "Alright, let's pack it up. We need to get back to Atlantis." He turned to Martha. "Are you alright, ma'am?"

"Yes, I'm okay. But what was all that?"

"Some Wraith Darts, probably just here on a scouting trip. There weren't enough of them for a culling. It should be safe for you to head back home now."

"Home? But…oh, no, I don't live here. I'm not even from this planet."

He stopped packing his gear and looked at her. "You're not?"

"No," she shook her head. _Probably not even from this galaxy_ , she added in her head, but thought that might not go over too well. "I don't know what's going on, but I need to find my friend. That man who was with me just now. Do you know what's happened to him?"

Lorne gave her a small, sad smile. "He was taken by the Wraith."

"What are Wraith?"

His eyebrows shot up. "You don't know?"

"No," she said, although the tone of his voice suggested that she should.

He seemed to consider for a moment. "Alright. You'd better come back with us."

She was already shaking her head. "I can't. I have to find the Doctor."

"Your friend? Look, they took our people too, ma'am. We're not giving up on them, so your best chance of finding him is to stick with us. And you'll be a lot safer."

"Oh. Alright. Thank you." He nodded, and the back door of the ship sealed itself as he settled in at the controls. "I'm Martha, by the way," she added. "Martha Jones."

"Major Evan Lorne," he replied with a quick smile. "United States Air Force. That's Lieutenants Spencer and Cadman." He nodded at the man and woman behind him.

Cadman settled into the co-pilot's seat, and Martha watched as the small ship rose gently in the air. She wondered how Lorne was flying the ship-his hands rested on the control panel, but there didn't seem to be any controls or buttons to do the actual work. It looked like pretty impressive, futuristic stuff, and Martha was itching to ask what year it was, but decided not to. She hadn't managed to find a way to ask that yet without sounding crazy.

"Ever been through a Stargate before, Miss Jones?" Lorne asked, as Cadman began pressing a series of large, orange buttons in the middle panel.

"Oh, you can call me Martha. And no, I haven't."

"In that case, Martha," he said with a pleasant smile. "You might want to hang on. It's a little unsettling the first time."

Any response she had was cut short as Cadman mashed her finger down on the last button and a brilliant flash of blue lit up the window. In front of her, what looked like a wave was settling down to a calm shimmer inside the metal ring, or Stargate, she supposed it was called. The little ship moved slowly forward into the puddle. She felt a sudden cool, tingling sensation, then a rush, as if she was plunging downward, sideways and up at the same time. Before she had time to register any of that, it was over, and the ship was in a large, elegant room. "Wow," she breathed, as the little ship rose, past a second level full of people and futuristic-looking equipment, and on to the docking area. On the way up, Lorne took the time to tell her about the Wraith. They were aliens, basically humanoid in appearance, although they were green and had fangs. They had the ability to regenerate any damaged cells, and so could live for thousands of years. The reason everyone was so afraid of them, he explained, was that they ate people. "What?!"

"They eat people. They use their hands to suck the life out of a person. They're also kind of psychic, and can mess with your head." He paused as she absorbed this disturbing information. "If you don't mind me asking, how have you gotten this far in the Pegasus galaxy without knowing about the Wraith?"

"I'm…I'm from very far away. Sort of just got here."

She was saved from having to answer any further by the back door opening as the ship touched down. A woman was standing there, and although a few worried lines crossed her forehead, the composed way she stood and waited for them told Martha that she was probably in charge. "What's happened, Major?"

"Three Darts, ma'am," Lorne explained. "They got the Colonel and his team and took off through the Gate."

"Are they still alive?"

"Last I saw, yes they were."

"Good. Let's see what we can do about mounting a search and rescue."

"Yes ma'am," Lorne affirmed, rising from his seat. He turned and indicated Martha. "This is Martha Jones, ma'am. She was on the planet when the Wraith arrived. A friend of hers got scooped up along with our guys."

"Thank you, Major," The woman said to Lorne, who nodded and left with his team. The woman turned to Martha. "Colonel Samantha Carter. Welcome to Atlantis." As soon as Martha was off the ship, Col. Carter was already walking away. "Please, forgive the rushed welcome, but we have a rescue to work on."

"Yes, of course," Martha said, following her down the corridor. "Major Lorne was filling me in about the Wraith. I'd like to help, if I could."

"Thank you, Miss Jones, but I think we can manage it," Carter said, not unkindly.

Martha grabbed her sleeve. "Please. I'm a long way from home, and without the Doctor…He's all I've got."

Carter stopped and looked at her. Martha saw a spark of compassion in the woman's eye, and Carter smiled. "Alright. This way."

She led her down the stairs, and Martha found herself back in the room where they had come through the Stargate. They were up on the second level, surrounded by a wave of people, and computers and displays that were an odd mixture of ethereal, alien design, and what she considered normal human tech-such as a laptop running Windows Vista. Through a partially open window of beautifully stained glass, she could hear the ocean, and felt a slight breeze. This place was beautiful. And the ocean…She turned to Colonel Carter. "Sorry, but did you say we were in Atlantis? As in, the city that sank into the sea, Atlantis?"

Colonel Carter gave her a curious glance, but all she said was, "Yes. That Atlantis."

Just then she was signaled over to a computer console by a small, slightly scruffy looking man. Not knowing what else to do, Martha followed her. The Colonel barely had time to introduce him as Dr. Zelenka before he launched into a rushed, complicated monologue in a thick Eastern European accent. In seconds she was lost. As it turned out, Carter seemed to be as well, which made her feel a little better.

"Okay, Radek, slow it down, and all in English, please. You're telling me you're trying to track them?" Colonel Carter asked.

"Yes," he said shortly. "But we can't."

"Too far out for the subcutaneous transmitters?"

The little man was already nodding his head. "Yes. There is a very limited range in which those will function, and we are much too far away. Even if we were back on the planet, I doubt it would pick anything up. Not if the Hive they were transported to has kept moving."

"So we're going to have to do this the hard way," Carter sighed.

"Excuse me," Martha said. "I admit, I didn't really understand much of what you said, but you need something to track them with, right?" Zelenka nodded. "Well, I don't really know if this will work," she broke off as she scrabbled in her pocket, "but will this help?" Her hand emerged with a small, slightly tarnished brass key.

Zelenka's eyebrows rose. "That?" She nodded. "That is a key."

"I know it's a key. But it's a special key, and my friend has one just like it. Could we use it to find his?"

Zelenka muttered something Slavic and probably not very polite, but at a look from Colonel Carter, all he said was, "A 'special' key?"

Martha knew she was trying his patience, but pressed on. "Yes. It gives off a sort of, oh…it's different. Just…take a look at it, will you?"

He sighed, but took the key from her hand. He flipped it over in his hands and felt the weight of it. He peered at the writing on top and examined it up close. Finally, he tossed it down on the table with a harsh clink, grabbed up a hand held scanner, and waved it over the key impatiently. He paused and scanned it again. She held her breath, praying that he would find something. Slowly he looked up at her, all earlier traces of irritation gone. "What is this key to?"

Carter interrupted, "What is it?"

"Well, I don't know about tracking, but this key…The traces it's giving off are very unique. I'd have to study it some more, but we might have something here." He turned back to Martha. "What is this?"

"It's a key to my friend's…ship," she finished weakly, unsure of how much to tell him. At his questioning eyebrow, she figured he might need a little more than that. "He and I, we travel, you see? And he's got this ship that can go, well, anywhere really. You start off in one place and just sort of materialize where you wanted to be." _Or any 'when'_ , she added in her head.

Zelenka's eyes lit up as if Christmas had come early. "Yes, we have to look at this. Do you mind, Miss Jones, if I take this down to the lab?"

"Martha, please, and yeah, that's fine. I'll want it back though."

He nodded sincerely. "Of course, of course. I'll just need an hour or two."

Colonel Carter nodded at him and he was gone in a flash, muttering excitedly under his breath. She turned back to Martha with a warm smile. "While he's working on that, why don't you let me show you where the mess hall is? I have get back to check on the rest of the team, but I'll help you find your way there first."

"Thank you," Martha smiled back. "A cup of tea would go down well right about now."


	3. Chapter 3

_In which they get caught. Again._

* * *

The Doctor strode down the hallway of the Hive ship, trying to recall everything he knew about the Wraith. They'd had the run of the Pegasus galaxy ever since the Ancients left, which would put it at about ten thousand years by now. They were big on organic technology, which explained the walls he'd been wondering about-their ships were grown instead of built. Somewhat like the TARDIS, he supposed, only the ships weren't intelligent, and the end design was far less attractive. The fleshy, not-quite-slimy walls, the support frames that looked like bone-not to mention the smell-all reminded one of being inside a very large creature. And then, of course, there was the whole life-sucking thing. That was why he'd never really fancied meeting the Wraith-they fed off of how much life you had left, and the thought of what they would do with a near-immortal Time Lord made him a little nervous. Not afraid, really, but in this case, a little caution seemed prudent. He snapped out of his reverie as Rodney started chattering excitedly and suddenly broke away from the group. Sheppard grumbled and started after him. "McKay! Get back here!"

"We need to know where we're going, don't we?" Rodney snapped.

The Doctor peered over McKay's shoulder and grinned. "Brilliant! Oh, a computer is just what we need!" He elbowed his way past Sheppard and up next to Rodney. "Oh, now this, this is clever. Just look at that, would you?" He patted the top of the console, a thin, transparent membrane crisscrossed with veins, as lights and writing flashed across it. "Just look at that design. Simple, functional, and very effective. The Wraith did have quite a hand at organic technology, I'll give them that. You're not going to see anything this good anywhere else for…ooh, eight hundred years, at least. That is just brilliant!"

Ronon and Teyla exchanged puzzled glances, and Rodney turned back to Sheppard with a disdainful glare. "Seriously, who is this guy?" Before Sheppard could answer, Rodney had turned back to where the Doctor was fiddling with the screen and snapped, "Hey! Don't touch that!"

The Doctor looked up. "What?"

"I need to hack into the system before we can pull anything up."

The Doctor's grin returned. "No worries. Got it sorted." Before Rodney could object, the Doctor had taken out the sonic screwdriver and jammed it into a slit at the top of the computer. He clicked it a couple of times and the screen pulled up a map. He clicked it a few more times and a series of blue dots appeared on the map scattered around the ship.

Rodney grunted. "Okay, so that wasn't bad," he acknowledged begrudgingly. "Again, what is that thing?"

"Sonic screwdriver," the Doctor said absently, studying the screen.

"Screwdriver? Hey, how'd you get it to do that?"

"What did he do?" Sheppard asked.

"He pulled up life signs all over the ship," Rodney said, pointing at the blue dots. "See? These are all the Wraith. These little yellow ones are us."

"Very good, Dr. McKay," the Doctor said, looking moderately impressed. "Normally, I don't think it's supposed to do that. But, I needed to see if I could find my friend, and I can be quite persuasive."

"Your friend?" Teyla asked.

"Martha Jones. She was with me down on the planet. I haven't seen her since I got up here, and it would seem she's managed to avoid getting caught. That means she's still back on the planet."

"Lorne said they managed to save a civilian right before we showed up. Maybe they've got her with them," Sheppard said. The Doctor allowed himself a sigh of relief. With Sheppard's men or not, being stranded on the planet was much safer for Martha than being captive on a Hive ship.

"How did you know she is not here?" Teyla asked.

"Not enough yellow dots," the Doctor pointed at the screen.

"I'll say there aren't," Rodney said suddenly. "Why are there only four?"

"Oh, it's not showing me."

"Why not?"

"Probably because it can't quite figure out what I am. I've been getting that a lot these days. To be honest, I'm not quite sure how I feel about that," he said, scratching his chin pensively.

"What do you mean it can't figure you out? There should be five human life signs right there," McKay said, pointing at the screen.

"No, four is right." The Doctor paused and then added, "I'm not human."

"What?" McKay looked the Doctor up and down, then turned to Sheppard. "Seriously, who is this guy?" he asked, a slight tone of desperation creeping into his voice.

Sheppard clapped him on the shoulder. "Time-traveling alien. Let's go."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You can't just leave it at that!"

"I'm rather afraid I'll have to, Dr. McKay," the Doctor said, casting a worried eye at the screen. He snatched his screwdriver back out of the slot, returning it to the safety of his pocket.

"Why?" Rodney demanded.

"Blue dots are moving," Ronon grunted.

"The Wraith are coming," Teyla said.

Rodney sighed, momentarily torn between curiosity and survival. Survival won in the end, and he sighed, "Fine. But don't think this is over!"

"Yeah, yeah, come on, you can bother him later." Sheppard dragged him away from the console. They followed Ronon around a corner, Sheppard watching their backs. "You got a good look at the map, right Rodney?"

"Yeah."

"Which way to the fighter bay?"

"Two levels down, and off in that general direction," McKay said, waving to their right. Sheppard glared at him. "What? _Time-traveling alien_! I was distracted."

Ronon glanced back towards the computer terminal and growled, "No time to go back and check." They could hear the heavy tromp of the Wraith warriors' boots coming nearer.

"Let's do the easy part first, shall we?" the Doctor said. "Two levels down, then?" He nodded back at the hallway, and they faded back into the shadows of an access corridor, hardly daring to breathe as the Wraith arrived. After what seemed an eternity, the troop passed by, unaware of the escapees.

"Alright, let's move, people," Sheppard said grimly. "They may not know we're gone yet, but that troop's gonna reach our cell block soon. Let's get as close to the fighter bay as we can before the alarms go off."

"This way!" Teyla called softly from farther back in the shadows. "I believe I have found a way down to the next level." They followed her to what appeared to be a maintenance hatch, with a slightly rusty ladder disappearing downwards.

The fleshy walls of the hatch pressed in closely around them as they made their way down, and the light from the narrow opening was completely blocked out by Rodney, who had come down last. Annoying as McKay's pitiful squeaks and moans were, the Doctor was secretly grateful for them-they helped push away that nagging feeling that he was being swallowed. The hatch widened at the bottom into a small room, and all five of them breathed a sigh of relief.

"What now?" hissed Sheppard.

"We're gonna have to go out there," McKay said, jerking his thumb towards the door. "We came at least one level down, but that's all I've got."

Sheppard nodded. "Are we clear out there?" he asked.

The Doctor was standing nearest the door, so he slid the door open a crack and peered out. The hallway to the left was clear, but as he swung his head to the right, he noticed a group of Wraith stomping down the corridor. Before he could pull his head back in, they saw him and picked up their pace. "No," he whispered to Sheppard. "Stay here."

"No! Get back here!" Sheppard hissed, darting after the Doctor as he leapt out into the corridor, and snapping the door shut quickly behind him.

The Wraith quickly surrounded them, a solid wall of muscle and guns. One of them wore long black robes instead of the usual rough leather, and no mask over his face to hide his fanged leer. The Doctor assumed, correctly, of course, that this one was their leader. The Wraith stepped forward and hissed in the Doctor's face, causing him to cough involuntarily. How could something that never ate with its mouth have breath that smelled so bad? The leader drew back, and the leer turned into a smile as he said, "It would seem we have found some of our prisoners. Thought you could escape, did you?"

The Doctor shrugged. "It was worth a shot," he said casually.

The Wraith chuckled, "Indeed. Such bravery is admirable. Desirable, in fact. The Queen will no doubt want to speak with you personally. She will be most interested in how you managed to escape your cell. Tell me, where are your friends?"

"Friends?" the Doctor asked. "Sorry to disappoint, mate. I'm afraid it's just me. And him," he added with a nod at Sheppard. "Just me and him." To Sheppard he whispered, "I told you to stay in there!"

"And I told you to come back in," he whispered back.

"Well then," the Wraith sneered. "Perhaps your friend will be more forthcoming with information."

"Nope," Sheppard shook his head. "We split up back on the cell block. Don't know where the others are." He paused before adding matter-of-factly, "And, if I did, I still wouldn't tell you."

"Very well," the Wraith said grimly. "If you won't talk to me, perhaps you will be more open with the Queen."

"I rather doubt that," the Doctor said.

"I don't," he smirked back. "She can be very persuasive."

With that, he nodded at the soldiers standing around him, and they all raised their guns and took aim. The Doctor barely had time to sigh, "Oh, not again," before he and Sheppard were enveloped in a crackling field of blue light and slumped heavily to floor.

* * *

Martha had finished her cup of tea, and now sat alone in a quickly emptying mess hall. Colonel Carter had left some time ago to get back to the rescue team, and Martha wasn't sure how much longer she was supposed to wait. A young blonde woman was passing by with an empty tray, and Martha seized the moment to jump up behind her and tap her gently on the shoulder. "Excuse me," she said, as the woman turned around. "Could you tell me where I could find Dr. Zelenka?"

"Sure," the woman smiled back. She nodded for Martha to follow her as she dropped her tray off at the door and started down the hall. "I'm Doctor Keller. You must be Martha."

"That's me," she affirmed with a smile, falling into step beside her. "How did you know that?"

"Colonel Carter mentioned you. She said something about a key that Radek was working on. That, and you know, you kind of stand out," Dr. Keller said, indicating her own uniform, and Martha's red jacket and jeans. "Cute jacket, by the way."

"Thanks," Martha replied. After a moment's hesitation, she followed Dr. Keller into what looked like a large closet. The door shut, Dr. Keller tapped a panel on the wall, and the door opened onto an entirely different hallway. "Whoa," Martha breathed.

"Oh, sorry," Dr. Keller said sheepishly. "Forgot you were new here. That was a transporter." She gestured out a window, adding, "We're in a whole different section of the city. I guess they're a little weird if you're not used to them, but it saved us about half an hour's walk."

"No, it's alright," Martha assured her. She glanced out the window to see the sun sinking into a skyline that stretched out of sight on each side. "This place is massive!"

Dr. Keller nodded. "Yeah. We've still only been to about half of it. But, if you need part of it figured out, these guys are the best." She stopped walking then. "Here you are. It was nice meeting you. Good luck with your key!" She waved, and continued down the hall as Martha stepped into the lab.

Colonel Carter and Dr. Zelenka were bent over a table where her TARDIS key lay surrounded by heaps of computer equipment she couldn't even begin to identify. They seemed to be in the midst of an argument, the nature of which wasn't helped by Zelenka's frequent lapses into Czech.

Martha gingerly raised her hand and waved. "Hello," she said carefully. "Hope I'm not interrupting."

"No, no, no, no," Zelenka said, breaking off mid-diatribe. "You are just the person we needed to see."

"We've found some very interesting readings on this key," Colonel Carter added. "It seems to be giving off some kind of temporal radiation-"

"We think that's what it is," Zelenka put in quickly.

"No," Carter said sternly. "We know it is. It's a very faint signature, but there's no other explanation."

"You can measure time like that?" Martha asked.

"Well, not exactly," admitted Carter. "It's kind of like studying a black hole. You can't measure it so much as other things around it."

"It's some sort of temporal anomaly, and there's no reason for it," Zelenka huffed, running his hands through his increasingly wild hair.

"Exactly," Carter agreed. "There's no source for this energy, and absolutely no reason for it to be coming off of this key!" She glared down at the key on the table, as if it were taunting her. "We have analyzed this thing down to the molecule, and everything keeps saying it's nothing more than just a brass key. We know there's more to it, but it's like the key is hiding it from us."

Martha nodded. "Well, it kind of makes sense. The ship sort of does that, and I guess it's all part of the same mechanism," she said thoughtfully.

"The ship does what?" Zelenka asked.

"It sort of hides. Something about it just makes it hard to notice."

"What about the temporal energy?" Carter asked.

Martha hesitated. She wasn't sure how much she was allowed to say, but if it meant finding the Doctor faster…"The ship travels in time," she said finally.

They both stared at her. "What?" Colonel Carter finally managed.

"It travels in time," Martha repeated. She sighed. "We travel around in time and space. I'm from a planet called Earth, in the year 2007, and I have no idea where or when we are right now, so when I say that the Doctor is all I have, I really mean it."

"You're telling us you're from Earth," Carter started slowly, "Last year?"

"Last year?" Martha repeated, shocked. "You mean this is 2008?"

Zelenka nodded. "Yes. It is 2008, and we are from Earth, and we know there were no time machines on Earth then. Or now," he added.

"What, you think I'm making this up?" Martha asked incredulously. Zelenka and Carter glanced at each other, but said nothing. "Why in the world would I make that up? Honestly, if I were making up a story, it would be better than that."

"That's a fair point," Zelenka conceded.

"And there's the temporal radiation stuff on the key," Martha added.

"There is that," Carter sighed. She paused. "Alright. But where did you get something like this?"

"It's not mine. It's the Doctor's, and he's from another planet. It's not Earth tech, if that's what you're getting at. Now, whether he built it, or bought it, or borrowed it or whatever, I don't know. You'd have to ask him. If we can ever find him." She added the last part somewhat testily.

"Fair enough," Carter said. "We did have something started as far as tracking goes, before we got caught up with the temporal energy. Like I said, it's a faint signature, but it's incredibly unique, so that should give us something good to go on. We'll set it up in the city sensors to start with and see if we can pick up anything in range."

"Thank you," Martha said. Carter nodded.

"But a time machine," Zelenka began, almost pleading.

"This is the best chance we have of getting our own people back, and we promised to help her find him. And, if this is really a time machine, we can't let the Wraith get their hands on this guy," Carter said firmly.

Zelenka nodded, suddenly jarred back to the gravity of the situation. He called to a tech to start gathering equipment, grabbed his own laptop, and headed back for the door and the central tower.

Not half an hour later, he radioed Colonel Carter as she and Martha were leaving the lab. "Colonel, we've got something," he informed her over the headset. "It's on the very edge of our scanner range and hard to be completely certain, but it's a close enough match to the results on the first key that I think we should check it out. I don't see what else it could be."

"Copy that," Carter replied. "I'll inform the _Daedalus_." She turned to Martha. "It looks like we've found him. Would you like to come along for the ride?"

Martha grinned widely. "I wouldn't miss it."


	4. Chapter 4

_In which things don't go well at all._

* * *

The Doctor blinked his way back into consciousness. "Twice in one day," he grumbled. Although, this time around the headache wasn't nearly as bad. He supposed that had something to do with merely being stunned, instead of torn apart, pieced back together and then stunned. His head was already clearing, but for some reason, he found that he couldn't move. He looked down at his feet. "Ah," he said. "Well, that would do it."

Instead of waking up back in his cell, he was in a large, empty room, lit with an eerie blue glow. He was set back into a nook in the wall, held firmly in place by an alarming amount of viney, tentacle-like growths protruding from the wall of the ship. They wrapped around his wrists and feet, pinned his arms to his sides and his legs together, and one even snaked around the back of his head, preventing him from turning. He imagined that this was very what being caught in a web would feel like, after the spider had rolled you around in it for a while. In fact, now that he thought about it (as an unpleasant memory involving a pair of rabid monkey-lizards, Jamie and his second self popped into the front of his head), this was exactly what it felt like. On the plus side, Sheppard was still there. On the not-so-plus side, Sheppard was stuck to the wall next to him, in exactly the same predicament.

Sheppard blinked and looked around, grimacing at the sprig of tentacle sticking into his ear. "Well," he blew out in a huff. "This day is turning out to be complete crap. And it started off so well."

"Sorry," the Doctor said. "I didn't mean for you to get stuck up here too."

Sheppard was already shaking his head as much as the tentacles would allow. "Not your fault. I would have done the same thing."

"You did," the Doctor pointed out.

"Well, I mean if, you know, _I'd_ been by the door. Important thing is, we're not dead yet, and the rest of the team got away. In my experience so far, that means we're gonna get rescued."

The Doctor tilted his head thoughtfully. "Positive outlook, that's the way."

Sheppard cocked an eyebrow. "You don't think they're coming?"

"No, I'm sure they will. I've seen the way you lot work together. Can see it in their eyes-I haven't seen loyalty like that in ages." He paused, smiling. "Two Earth men, an Athosian and a Satedan. Have I told you how much I love it when humans work together?"

"You mentioned that, yeah."

"Oh. Well, they'll show up. I don't actually have a plan at the moment, so that would be very helpful."

"Facing the Wraith without a plan…you know, most people would call that stupid," Sheppard said lightly. He sniffed thoughtfully. "Of course, I have been known to do that, on more than one occasion."

The Doctor gave a lopsided grin. "Well, there's no fun in it if you plan everything, is there?"

Sheppard's reply was cut short as the door across the chamber hissed open. Two of the masked soldiers came in, followed by their friend from the corridor. Behind him, a tall, elegant female stalked into the room. Her skin was so pale that the green almost completely vanished into white, and her hair flowed long and dark down her back. She was at least a head taller than her companion, and instead of the black leather, her robe was of fine, white material. She was almost beautiful, if not for the evil smile that split her face when she saw them, revealing wicked fangs. The Queen.

She approached them, studying her captives thoughtfully. She eyed Sheppard carefully, taking in what little of his uniform was visible under the vines. Though he glared back defiantly, the Doctor saw a glimmer of apprehension in his eyes. She turned to the Doctor then and leaned in, inches from his face, casually tracing a long, sharp fingernail down from his temple. He was barely able to suppress an involuntary shudder as a satisfied grin settled on her face. She stepped back and glared at Sheppard. "Atlantis," she hissed scathingly, pacing in front of them. "Your kind has been a thorn in our sides since your arrival in this galaxy. I should feed on you now and be done with it!" She pivoted on her foot and turned back to the Doctor. "But this one is different. I can sense it." Cocking her head, she addressed Sheppard once more, "How did he come to be with you?"

Sheppard snorted derisively, but said nothing. The Queen shrugged. "Very well. We can try another question. What about your friends? I know there were more of you."

"They're long gone," Sheppard growled.

She stepped forward and tilted his chin up with a long, graceful finger, forcing him to look into her eyes. "I was giving you a chance, human. I wasn't going to play with my food before eating it-so unladylike, don't you think?" She chuckled softly. "But, if you insist on doing it the hard way…" her eyes twinkled merrily, and she stepped back. "I suppose I should extend the same courtesy to you," she said to the Doctor. "Who are you?"

"No one, really," the Doctor replied.

"Do not try my patience, sir," the Queen warned.

"Would you believe John Smith?" the Doctor ventured. The Queen's glare turned even colder, and he sighed, "Nah, didn't think so."

"Very well," she said, her smile creeping back. "Let us play, then." She nodded to the male Wraith, and he hit a panel on the wall. The vines holding the Doctor in place retracted quickly, dumping him unceremoniously to the floor. He got to his feet and stood in front of her. "You show no fear," she said. "That either makes you very brave, or a fool." She began to circle him slowly. "You have come a long way, I think. Certainly, you are like no human I've seen before." She had stopped hissing now, and her voice was smooth, almost melodic. "How did you come to meet this man from Atlantis?" When he didn't answer, she continued, speaking softly. "Is your home a rich, new feeding ground?" She stroked the side of his face again, gently this time, her hand lingering to tease the hair by his temple. "Where have you come from?"

Her voice was warm and friendly, and the corner of his mouth twitched as he caught the word 'Gallifrey' just before it slipped off his tongue. How had it even gotten there? A spark danced in her eyes, and he cursed himself mentally. Psychic. The Wraith were psychic. He had forgotten that small, oh-so-crucial bit of information. He hadn't had his guard up, and now she was getting in his head. He felt her smile then, more than he saw it, and realized that she wasn't getting into his head. She was already there.

Instantly, he began pulling up his mental defenses, and he felt her smile widen. "So, you have found me, Doctor," she teased, drawing out his name with pleasure. He wasn't quite sure if she was speaking aloud, or if it was all in his head now. He supposed it didn't really matter. "Doctor. What an odd name, even for a human," she continued. He kept trying to pull up the walls to keep her out, but it was hard, much harder than it should have been. Instead of springing into place as they should have done, it was as if he was building them up one brick at a time. She was farther in than he had thought. "But what is this?" she sounded amused now. "Is that two hearts? Not so human after all, then, are you?" He could feel her excitement beginning to build, and though it felt so far away, he was aware of a trickle of sweat running down his face. He could feel his fists clenching, and a straining at the side of his neck. "No, not human at all. You're better. So much better! There is so much life in you, so much more to come!" She was well and truly excited now, and the Doctor could feel her pushing harder, right up against his increasingly weakening walls. He was vaguely aware of a dull pain, vaguely aware of falling as somewhere his body crashed to its knees. "Where are you from? Tell me, so that we may find more of your kind!" she demanded. Her voice echoed inside his head, coming from everywhere. She was nearly through now. He'd been stupid, he hadn't been ready, and now she was going to find out everything. The location of a dead, time-locked planet may not mean much to her, but if she found that, she found the TARDIS, and if she found the TARDIS…He thought of something that evil being handed the keys to time and space, he thought of the Wraith with an infinite feeding ground, hunting down every human that ever was or ever would be, and it made him want to cry. He felt himself beginning to shake, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could last.

"Hang in there, Doctor!" Was that another voice? It was soft, nearly silent in the gloom. Far away at first, it echoed back and forth in his head, gaining strength until the Doctor could hear it shouting. "Hold on!" John Sheppard. That brave, sarcastic, brilliant, stubborn, beautifully human John Sheppard. That voice gave him an anchor, a steady link surging through the chaos his mind was threatening to become, all the way back out into reality. It was all he needed.

His defensive walls shot up into place, slamming home and shoving the Queen back out of his mind. He gave her a little mental push of his own, and she leapt back with a cry, shaking her hand as if it had been burned. The Doctor got to his feet, wiping the sweat from his face with a slightly shaky hand. He steadied his breathing, glaring at her defiantly. She nodded at the two burly soldiers at her side, and they grabbed the Doctor, each taking an arm and pinning him to the wall. "You will pay for that, Doctor," she hissed venomously. "Oh, you will pay. But first, I think your human must suffer too." She hit the panel in the wall again, and Sheppard fell to the ground in front of her.

"Leave him alone!" the Doctor called. "He h-" One of the soldiers clamped a large hand over the Doctor's mouth, cutting him off.

Sheppard hadn't even finished getting to his feet when she began. He crashed back down on his knees. She was whispering in his ear, and his eyes were wide and strained. A vein throbbed erratically in his neck, and his mouth was clenched to keep from speaking. A single tear trickled down his cheek as he let out a moan of pain and whispered softly, "No, I can't! I can't…" He closed his eyes and clamped his mouth shut, shaking as sweat dripped from his hair.

The Doctor struggled against his captors' arms, willing Sheppard to hang on. She pulled away from him then, and Sheppard sank slowly to the floor. The Queen looked down at him disdainfully, saying, "You would try to fight me too? Poor brave human. Your mind is far weaker than this Doctor's. To break through it would be no trouble at all. But I think it will be more fun to make him watch this." She paused. "Perhaps, human, should you have another life, you should choose your friends more wisely."

She shot one last angry look at the Doctor, as if daring him to challenge her. Sheppard was raising himself off the floor, and the Queen grabbed him roughly by the front of his vest, hauling him back to his knees in front of her. Realising what she was about to do, the Doctor struggled against the Wraith holding him against the wall. He might was well have tried to fight the wall. "Bring it," Sheppard whispered angrily as he met her eyes. The Doctor watched in horror as her hand slammed into Sheppard's chest. Her fingernails dug into his skin like claws, and his brave front broke down at last as he screamed in pain. He clawed desperately at her arm, trying to pull himself free of her grasp. He screamed again, and began slowly convulsing in agony. The Queen, on the other hand, grinned in delight, eyes closed in ecstasy. The Doctor felt sick as he watched, but felt he owed it to Sheppard not to turn away.

Suddenly, a new sound broke through the screaming. It was the rapid cadence of gun fire. Bullets and red light were shooting everywhere, and over the din Ronon shouted, "Get down!" As his two Wraith captors had let go of him to return fire, the Doctor wisely followed Ronon's instruction. A moment later, the two Wraith dropped down beside him, still smoking. The Queen had dropped Sheppard when the shooting began, turning and taking a hail of P-90 fire from Teyla in the chest. She fell, and was soon joined by her male companion, finished off by Ronon and Rodney. They stood on guard a moment longer, making sure the room was clear as the Doctor got to his feet.

"Are we too late?" Rodney asked breathlessly.

Their eyes all turned to Sheppard, still lying on the floor. "John," Teyla whispered, dropping her gun and kneeling at his side.

"Oh no," Rodney said, staring down in shock. Ronon said nothing, as deep lines of helpless anger settled across his face.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said, crouching at Sheppard's other side. "I'm so sorry." His eyes glistened as he placed a hand on Sheppard's shoulder.

The John Sheppard on the floor was a shell of the man he once was. Through the torn fabric of his vest, a red hand-mark stared angrily back at them, bleeding from the centre. His hair was white and feathery; his face thin and etched deeply with lines. Veins rose out jarringly from his pale skin, and his uniform hung loosely on his emaciated body. The Queen had taken forty years off of him if she'd taken a day. He was an old man. And he was dying. He looked up at Teyla with watery eyes, and she was struggling to hold back her tears. He gave her a weak smile. "Do I look that bad?" he asked her, his voice cracking.

She gave him a frail smile in return, patting his shoulder. "You do not look well, John," she managed, her voice stumbling over the last words.

"We're too late," mumbled Rodney. "Oh, Sheppard, I am so sorry."

Whatever Ronon was about to say was cut off by a scraping sound. They turned and saw the Queen awkwardly rising to her feet, her wounds trying to heal themselves. With a whirring sound, Ronon's gun was at her forehead in an instant.

"Wait!" called the Doctor, getting to his feet. He extended a hand towards Ronon. "Ronon, wait." He glared at the Doctor, and the gun didn't move a millimeter, but he didn't pull the trigger. Quickly the Doctor turned to the Queen. "Fix it."

"What?" murmured Rodney. Teyla gasped. The Queen said nothing.

"Fix it," the Doctor demanded. "I know you can do it. I've heard of your Wraith worshippers, and the life you give to them. You can do the same for him. You stole his life, and I want you to put it back."

"Do it," Ronon demanded, jabbing her in the head with his gun.

She turned her head calmly, so that she could look Ronon in the eyes. "Why should I?" she hissed.

He pushed her with the gun again. "Cause I'll shoot you if you don't."

She laughed. "I will die with or without your gun, human. Why should I give you any satisfaction?"

"Because it'll hurt more if I kill you," he growled back.

She said nothing, and the Doctor stepped closer. "Why don't you do it because I'm asking you to?" He knelt down in front of her, looking in her eyes. She would have faltered slightly at the strength she saw there, had Ronon's gun not been keeping her from moving. "Go on," the Doctor urged her. "Just this once. Be the one Wraith in this galaxy who showed mercy."

"Never," she hissed, spitting in his face.

Calmly, he wiped the spit from the side of his face. His voice was cold as he said, "I asked because I don't like doing this. But that man is dying, and it's my fault, and you are going to save him. Because I told you to. And you are going to listen to me."

Rodney and Teyla stared at him in amazement. The hard edge in his voice made even Ronon's hand shake slightly. "What is he doing?" Teyla whispered, then gasped as he placed one hand on each side of the Queen's head, his eyes still locked with hers.

The Queen chuckled. "You really want to try this again?"

"Oh yes," the Doctor replied, deadly serious. "Now I know what I'm up against. Now I'm ready."

"You are weak, Doctor," she hissed. "Your 'mercy' makes you pathetic!"

"Oh really? Then why is it you can't get in, hmm?" He felt her clamouring uselessly at his defenses, trying to break through. "Told you I was ready for you. You really should have taken that first chance."

She struggled with him a moment longer, and then stopped, staring at him with open eyes. Slowly, she got to her feet. The Doctor rose with her, nodding carefully to Ronon, who lowered his gun warily. She walked rigidly back to where Sheppard lay on the floor, kneeling beside him.

Reflexively, Sheppard flinched away from her as she stretched out a hand towards him. "It's alright," the Doctor assured him.

"What are you doing?" Sheppard asked nervously. His voice broke down into a cough at the end, but his eyes stayed anxiously on the Queen.

"It's okay," the Doctor said kindly. Sheppard started to protest and coughed again, and the Doctor laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You saved me, now let me do the same for you. Trust me, John."

Sheppard met the Doctor's eyes, then nodded slowly. The Queen lowered her hand to his chest again. Nothing seemed to happen, and they all stared for a tense moment. Suddenly Sheppard gasped, and his back arched up off the ground as she began.

"What the-?" Rodney started, then found himself too distracted to continue. Ronon watched in wide-eyed fascination, his gun hanging for once forgotten at his side. Teyla's hand flew to her mouth, staring in wonder as the Queen set to her work.

Sheppard's body twitched and jerked involuntarily, and his breath came in short gasps, but he did not seem to be in pain. On the contrary, he began to breathe longer and deeper. Muscles fleshed back out on his arms and legs again, and his skin drew back to a healthy color. His face smoothed out as the deep lines vanished, eyes opening and becoming clear. Even the white in his hair was rushing away, returning to its thick, untamed black. The Queen jerked her hand away abruptly as she finished, succumbing at last to her own injuries and crumpling to the floor. But he was John Sheppard again, alive once more and in even better health than when he had started the day. The only sign that he had been injured at all was a red hand mark, still burning faintly on his chest, but no longer bleeding.

Sheppard stared down at his hand, thoughtfully opening and closing his fingers. He looked up at the Doctor then, who grabbed the hand and pulled him to his feet. "Thank you," Sheppard said earnestly, placing a hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "That was…I mean I…Thank you." The Doctor nodded back, smiling warmly.

They all jumped in alarm as more gun shots fired, then relaxed as they saw it was Ronon, putting a few more shots into the Queen for good measure. The Doctor thought it somewhat unnecessary, but considering what they had all just been through, he said nothing. Holstering his gun, Ronon turned back to the Doctor and nodded in approval. His eyes met Sheppard's, and he asked, "You okay?" not quite masking his concern behind his gruff voice. Sheppard nodded.

"I am glad you are well, John," Teyla said, smiling brightly.

Rodney couldn't quite seem to find the words he was looking for, and settled on, "Yes. Welcome back." He cast a querying eye back at the Doctor. "How did you do that? You travel in time, and you're _psychic_?"

"Well," the Doctor tilted his head thoughtfully. "I guess you could call it that…"

"He's right though, how did you do that?" Sheppard asked. "Not that I'm complaining or anything." He held up his hands quickly. "But it seemed like she had you back there."

"Well, I hate to admit it, but yes, she did, as you said, 'have me back there'. I wasn't ready for her. But you," he pointed at Sheppard. "Your voice pulled me out again, for which I should have thanked you earlier, and now, well, now I knew what I was doing."

"But that Queen was very powerful," Teyla said. "Even as she lay dying, I could still sense it."

"That she was," the Doctor conceded. "She was good. She was very good. But I was better." He grinned, and refused to say any more.

"Well, now that we're done with that fun excursion, what say we go back to trying to get off the ship now?" Rodney asked.

"Excellent idea, Dr. McKay," the Doctor said.

"That's why we keep him around," Sheppard grinned. He strapped on the gun and radio his team had managed to salvage, and they headed for the door.


	5. Chapter 5

_In which the timing works out quite nicely._

* * *

Martha stood on the bridge of the _Daedalus_ , staring out into space. She had stopped being distracted by the blue-white streaks of hyperspace out the window some time ago, and now was just waiting for something to happen. They had left from Atlantis about an hour ago, and according to the officer at the helm, would be arriving in the next few minutes. Martha hadn't had much to do for the duration of the journey. Major Lorne was prepping a rescue team down in the jumper bay. Dr. Zelenka was frittering away at various computer stations, trying to fine-tune his key-tracking system. Even Dr. Keller had come along, but she was preparing the sick bay, anticipating serious injuries once they engaged the Wraith. Martha had tried to help her, but so much of the equipment was alien to her. The team from Atlantis was quite familiar with the technology they had found by this time, but, needless to say, Martha didn't recognize a button of it. Colonel Carter had taken pity on her, and invited her back up to the bridge where she could watch their progress and keep up with any developments. Carter now stood near the captain's chair in the centre, in the middle of a serious discussion with Colonel Caldwell, who had not been introduced to Martha, but she gathered that this was his ship. He seemed to be quite accustomed to assisting with last minute rescues around Atlantis.

"Coming out of hyperspace now, Sir," said Marks, the helmsman. As he spoke, the window in front of them cleared to black space and stars, and Martha thought she felt a slight lurch as the ship slowed.

"There's nothing there," she whispered nervously to Zelenka, who had left his computer bank to stand beside her.

"We didn't want to drop out where their sensors could pick us up," he explained. "The Hive ship should be on the other side of that planet." He gestured at a green planet drifting into view.

"Anything?" Caldwell asked.

"We have confirmation on the Hive ship," Marks replied. He pulled up a schematic on one of the view screens, showing the Hive orbiting the planet between them. "Matching orbit to keep out of range."

"It's exactly where we thought it would be," Carter said, slightly amazed. She turned to Martha. "That key of yours really worked!"

Martha couldn't help but grin. "Good old TARDIS. Can you tell where they are?"

Zelenka tapped his data pad a few times, and a blip appeared in the Hive ship. "There," he said, pointing. He tapped the pad again. "That's the key signature, and those are the Colonel's teams' transmitters." He pointed again as four more blips appeared, grouped around the first one.

"They're all together," Carter sighed in relief. "That simplifies things."

"So how do we get them out?" asked Martha. "Do we just beam them out?"

"Sadly, no," Zelenka informed her. "Our beam technology cannot penetrate their shielding. Our best hope is to send in a cloaked jumper."

Carter tapped her headset, calling down to Lorne and his team. "Be ready to go on my mark, Major." She turned to Marks. "Let's try to radio first, at least try to let them know we're coming."

Marks nodded and began trying the comm link. Martha held her breath as they waited for the static to clear.

* * *

On the Hive ship, the search for the Dart bay continued. Rodney was more confident now in his directions, and they made slow but steady progress towards the bay. Increasing numbers of warrior drones were passing them in the hallways, and they lost a lot of time ducking into closets and hatches. "They're gonna notice the Queen is dead soon, if they haven't already," Sheppard said. "This place is going to keep getting busier."

"I am painfully aware of that," Rodney snapped. "We're going as fast as we can. Unless you'd rather shoot your way through all these drones?"

"I'm down with that," Ronon said.

"What I meant was," Sheppard said, shooting a meaningful glance at Ronon, "Maybe we need a Plan B. The closer to that bay we get, the more drones we keep running into. I really don't want them all there when we try to steal a ship."

"We could always blow something up," Ronon suggested. "That usually works."

"We were unable to recover any of our C-4," Teyla pointed out grimly.

"We've got this," the Doctor said, pulling out his sonic screwdriver.

"What, the thing explodes now?" Rodney wondered.

"No," the Doctor explained patiently. "But if we can find a terminal, I could manage something."

"Right. So, computer terminal," Sheppard began, cut off suddenly by a burst of static at his shoulder.

"This is Colonel Carter, do you read?" his radio crackled at his shoulder.

"We read you, Colonel. Good to hear your voice," Sheppard replied with a smile. The rest of the team let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Are you all okay?" Carter continued, relief evident in her own voice as well.

"We're all a little banged up, but we'll make it. How did you find us?"

"We had a little help," she admitted. "I'll tell you all about it later, but right now we need to get you out of there. We've got Lorne and a team standing by in a jumper."

"Wait!" an unfamiliar voice chimed in from the background. "Is the Doctor there with you?"

"Yeah, he's here. Who is that?" Sheppard asked.

"Martha Jones," the Doctor said joyfully, grinning from ear to ear. "Hah! Are you alright, then?"

"Fine, Doctor," she laughed back over the radio. "Better, now I know you're alright."

Suddenly, an alarm began blaring through the ship. "Crap," Sheppard muttered. "They found her. Better hold off on that jumper, Colonel. The ship just went on alert."

"Wait!" Rodney yelled. "Sam, are you all in the jumper?"

"No," came the reply. "We're getting ready to launch from the _Daedalus_."

"Forget the launch. You'd never sneak a jumper in here now. If I can get the shields down, are you close enough to beam us out?"

"Not now, but we can get there."

"We'll work on the shields and get back to you," Sheppard said. "Sheppard out." He waved at them to follow him, taking advantage of a momentarily clear corridor. "Are you sure you can get the shields down, Rodney?"

"Oh please, I do this all the time," Rodney said.

"Do you really?" asked the Doctor.

"Certainly more often than I would like," Rodney replied.

After a few more minutes of corridor ducking, they found a terminal that McKay deemed suitable for shutting down the shields. He tapped furiously away at the keyboard for a few minutes, trying very hard to ignore the Doctor hovering over his shoulder. "Got it!" he yelled suddenly. He punched his radio. "Okay, Sam, shields are down! We're ready!"

"On the way," Carter replied. "Sit tight."

At that instant their luck ran out. A troop of soldiers passing by spotted them and opened fire. They all dove behind the console for cover. "We're taking fire, here!" Sheppard called into the radio, Teyla and Ronon leaning briefly out to return fire.

"So are we!" Carter yelled back. "They spotted us before we could get close enough. Hold on!"

"Oh, we're gonna die!" Rodney moaned. "And we came so close. Hey, what-get down here!" He turned and tried to pull the Doctor back down, who was popping up between energy blasts to adjust the computer. "What are you doing?"

"Turning off the main weapons," he grunted. "Let go, will you? I'm trying to give your ship a chance."

"You can't do that from here," Rodney protested. "Weapons are controlled strictly from the bridge." The Doctor said nothing, merely clicked his sonic screwdriver at Rodney, and continued his work.

"They've stopped firing!" Carter called over the radio. "We can get into range now. Have you out of there in a second!"

Rodney stared at the Doctor in amazement. The Doctor just smiled and said, "I never did like guns."

"Oh, I have got to get one of those," Rodney said. Then the soft, white light of the Asgard beams enveloped them, and they disappeared.


	6. Chapter 6

_In which there is hugging, John gets a ride and Rodney doesn't get a sonic screwdriver._

* * *

They shimmered back into existence on the bridge of the _Daedalus_ , still crouched together in a circle. "Get us out of here!" Caldwell ordered, and Marks had the ship back in hyperspace before they had finished getting to their feet.

"Doctor!" Martha called, darting forward and grabbing him in a hug. He laughed, swinging her in a circle, and making Rodney and Teyla jump out of the way.

Colonel Carter approached at a more leisurely pace. "Good to have you home, Colonel," she said, nodding at Sheppard.

"Good to be here," he agreed. "I wasn't sure if we'd make it this time. How did you guys find us, anyway?"

"Yes, you, ah, said you had some help?" Rodney asked, raising an eyebrow.

Carter nodded. "We did," she started. "I think you've already met Martha."

"Sort of," Sheppard said, reaching out to shake her hand. "John Sheppard. Nice to meet you." He flashed her an utterly charming smile, and Martha grinned warmly back. Rodney rolled his eyes.

"Without her, we never would have found you on time," Carter said. "She had something that let us track you, and Radek and I were able to use that to pinpoint your location."

The Doctor raised a curious eyebrow at Martha. She smiled impishly and held up her key. "TARDIS key," she explained. "They were able to use mine to find yours. Something to do with temporal radiation."

Pride shone in the Doctor's eyes, and his face split into that smile that made her forget to breathe. "Oh, Martha Jones, you are brilliant!" He pulled her into a hug again. "Absolutely brilliant!"

"Temporal radiation? I hope you saved those readings, cause I'm gonna have to…Wait a minute," Rodney said. "Did you just say _Zelenka_ saved my life?"

"If it helps, Martha and I were there too," Carter said.

Missing her sarcasm completely, Rodney shook his head. "No, it doesn't."

"You're welcome, Rodney!" Zelenka called from by the computer terminal, a sparkle in his eyes. Rodney sighed.

"Excuse me," the Doctor said, stepping forward. "Colonel Carter, was it? I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm the Doctor."

"I'm sorry," Carter said. "Yes, I'm Colonel Samantha Carter. I've heard a lot about you, Doctor."

"Good things, don't worry," Martha put in with a grin. "Mostly."

"For starters, thank you so much for keeping Martha safe," he began sincerely. "Secondly, I don't mean to impose on your hospitality, but I was wondering if we might make a little detour?"

"A detour?"

"Back to that planet where this all started. I've left something important there, and I'd really like to go back and pick it up."

"Was it by any chance some kind of blue, wooden box-looking thing?" Sheppard asked suddenly.

The Doctor's eyebrows rose. "Yes, actually, that's exactly what it was."

"I saw it in the woods as the Wraith were chasing us," he explained. "Didn't exactly look like it fit there."

"We can do that," Carter said. "Provided you come back to Atlantis afterwards."

"Of course!" the Doctor assured her. "I wouldn't come all the way to the Pegasus galaxy and miss seeing Atlantis!"

Carter gave the order to Marks, who put in the coordinates, and said they would be there in a few minutes. Carter suggested they might want to make their way to the sick bay in the mean time.

Rodney sighed in relief. "Excellent. I'm still aching from that culling beam."

Teyla raised an eyebrow. "Seeing as it was the Colonel who was fed upon by a Wraith, perhaps he should see Dr. Keller before you."

"You know, honestly, I feel fine," Sheppard protested.

"You were fed on?" Carter exclaimed.

"Well, yeah, but…he sort of fixed it." Sheppard gestured towards the Doctor. Carter raised an incredulous eyebrow, and he sighed. "It's gonna be a long debriefing when we get home, isn't it?"

"I think that's a bit of an understatement," she answered.

* * *

The Doctor, Martha and Sheppard rematerialized as the Asgard beam set them down gently on the grass in front of the Stargate. The stars were still out, but it was lightening in what Martha assumed was the east. It would be sunrise soon.

"So, this is your time machine, huh?" Sheppard asked. He circled the blue box, looking up with amusement at the 'Police Public Call Box' sign. "Doesn't look all that roomy."

The Doctor smiled, but said nothing, slipping his key into the lock. He cracked the door open. "Oh, it works well enough for us." He nodded towards the door. "Go on, have a look."

Sheppard stepped through the door, his breath catching when he got inside. "Wow. It's…"

"Bigger on the inside," the Doctor finished, coming in behind him with a satisfied smile and tossing his coat over the handrail.

Martha came up the ramp behind him and shut the door. She couldn't help but smile at Sheppard's wonder, remembering her own first time in the TARDIS. The whole dimensionally transcendental thing still boggled her mind sometimes, if she stopped and thought too hard about it.

"It is that," Sheppard agreed. He circled the console, taking in the glowing centre column and the console itself, with its mismatched series of dials, knobs, buttons and springs, the hand-brake, the mallet, and that one little piece that the Doctor never explained, and Martha always thought looked like a little brass owl. He put a hand on one of the support columns growing up like a piece of coral from the floor and patted it, as if to assure himself it was all really there. He grinned then, and chuckled a little bit in childlike wonder. "This is _so_ cool!"

"Fancy a lift?" the Doctor asked him. "I did promise Colonel Carter we'd stop by Atlantis."

"Do I want a ride? Are you kidding?"

"Alright then. Allons-y!" The Doctor twisted a few of the dials, mashed a button or two, flicked the little brass owl, and kicked the hand-brake out of place. A familiar grating sound filled the air, and the grating under their feet began to vibrate slightly as they shot off into the vortex.

Sheppard looked at Martha as the Doctor fiddled with the controls. "So, you guys do this a lot?"

"Pretty much full-time," she said. "We try to stay out of trouble, but you could probably tell from today just how well that goes. Awful lot of running involved in seeing the universe," she finished with a smile.

He grinned back at her. "Oh, I know that's right. Today wasn't far off from average for me either."

A bell rang then, and the Doctor pulled on a lever. "Right then, here we are! Atlantis!"

"Already?" Sheppard asked. "Oh, right. Time machine." The Doctor opened the door, and they followed Sheppard out onto a balcony. Through the window, Martha could see the control room where she'd first arrived. Sheppard whistled in appreciation. "That was awesome." He laughed. "Oh, McKay is gonna kill me when I tell him about this. I wouldn't let him inside that thing if I were you."

The Doctor smiled, then leaned out over the railing. Martha and Sheppard came up and joined him. The sun was coming up over the sea, gold light dancing across the water. The buildings out on the pier shone with a warm, welcoming glow as the sun played between the spires. "Beautiful," the Doctor said. "Just beautiful."

"Yeah," Sheppard agreed. "It's quite a place to call home." After a minute he pushed off the railing and sighed, "Hopefully we can keep it that way." He headed back inside the complex, pausing when he realized they weren't following him. He turned, framed by the yellow glass window. "You guys coming? Carter'll be wanting to start on that debriefing."

The Doctor drew in his breath, and Martha heard him murmur, "Oh, _that_ John Sheppard." Aloud, he said, "Yeah. Be along in a minute."

Sheppard saw something in his eyes then, and nodded in understanding. "Thanks again. For everything."

The Doctor smiled. "My pleasure. Thank you." He paused, but just before Sheppard turned to go inside, he added, "Oh, and John? Don't worry too much about the Wraith. I think you lot are going to do just fine."

Sheppard nodded his thanks, and went on through the door. Carter was there to greet him. "They're not coming in, are they?" she asked, looking outside at the Doctor and Martha as they got back in the TARDIS.

"Don't think so. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who sticks around for paperwork." He grinned at Carter mischievously. "On that note…"

She smiled back. "Not a chance. Unlike mysterious time-traveling aliens, you have to go to debriefing, just like everybody else." She turned and headed for her office then. Sheppard shot one last look out the window. With a soft grating sound, the TARDIS slowly faded from sight. John Sheppard smiled, shook his head, and went back to his team.

* * *

"Doctor," Martha asked, as the TARDIS hummed its way through the vortex once more. "What did you mean when you said 'that' John Sheppard? Do you know him from somewhere? And what about the Wraith? Will they ever find a way of stopping them?"

"All in good time, Martha," he assured her. "All in good time."

"Good time?" she asked.

"Yep. I'd say, ooh, about a hundred years or so? Here we are then!" The TARDIS stopped, and he ushered her towards the door.

She stepped out onto the same balcony they'd just left from. "Have we gone anywhere?"

"Just jumped forward a bit. Come and have a look at this." He led her through the yellow doors that Sheppard had gone through one hundred years earlier. They strolled past the banks of consoles in the command centre, vacant, except for a lone tech who gave them an absent wave. They walked down the stairs to the level of the Stargate. A few people were milling around, most of them wearing Atlantis uniforms. It seemed more relaxed, but all looked very much the same to Martha. Except for the series of portraits hanging by the grand stairwell, one of which the Doctor was directing her attention to.

It was a picture of John Sheppard. He stood in full military dress in front of the gold glass window. He was older than she'd last seen him. Though his hair remained as disheveled as ever, it was peppered with streaks of silver. His eyes were wiser, and fine lines danced around their corners. He still had the same charming smile that made her stomach do a little turn, and she grinned. It looked as though he'd made it past the Wraith after all.

"General John Sheppard," the Doctor read from a marker beneath it. "That's where I'd heard the name before. Big name in your history, this man. Well, your future history," he amended. "He and his team of plucky, intrepid explorers from Earth saved the Pegasus galaxy from the Wraith. Quite a feat, really. Even the Ancients, ten thousand years before, weren't able to manage that. And they were nothing to sneeze at."

"Plucky?" Martha asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Sure," the Doctor said. "Plucky. Brave. Spirited. Daring. Courageous. You know," he nudged her with an elbow. "Human."

She smiled. "So they really did it then? Will people on Earth ever find out about it?"

" 'Course they will," he told her. "Although, by now, they already have done. But you lot are already taking some pretty big steps in the twenty-first century, what with the Sycorax, and Judoon stealing hospitals, and Daleks turning up everywhere. Won't be long before the Earth is ready for all this."

Among the other portraits lining the wall, she thought she recognized the rest of his team, and Martha smiled up at his picture. "Good for them." She grinned mischievously at the Doctor. "I guess that's one less galaxy for us to save."

He laughed. "That it is, Martha Jones. That it is." His eyes twinkled. "We'll just have to find another one, won't we?" He pulled her into a hug and dragged her back towards the TARDIS. "Come on!"


End file.
